Players to Watch: CHI vs TBL (3/18/21)
(Photo by Eliot J. Schechter/NHLI via Getty Images)
Raise your hand if you’re confident going into tonight’s Blackhawks game against the Tampa Bay Lightning? No one? Oh, I see one! Oh - it’s a Lightning fan. Put your hand down and go enjoy your good team!
The month of March has not been kind to the Chicago Blackhawks. They’ve played 7 games and won . . . 2 of them. 1 was in a shootout. They’re 2-4-1 and the schedule doesn’t get any lighter to close out the month. In fact, they’ve got 2 more games against both Tampa and Florida and one against Carolina. They might get a chance to breathe when they face the Nashville Predators - wo are significantly worse than Chicago if you look at the stats. But, last time they went to Nashville, they left without a win. So, who knows.
Tonight’s game against Tampa Bay should be an interesting test for the Blackhawks. Tampa absolutely demolished them in their last contest; taking a 6-3 win - after the Blackhawks had a 3-0 lead. Meanwhile, the Blackhawks are just trying to pull out of a nosedive.
You don’t need me to tell you that Tampa Bay is the better team. But, for the sake of information, here are some numbers.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have played 28 games and have a record of 20-6-2. The Chicago Blackhawks have played 30 games and have a record of 14-11-5. That was trending upward until March happened.
Hopping on over to Goal Differential.
In 28 games, the Tampa Bay Lightning have scored 102 goals while giving up 67 for a DIFF of +35.
In 30 games, the Chicago Blackhawks have scored 92 goals while giving up 98 for a DIFF of -6. The positive differential was looking nice while it lasted. How sad is it knowing that Tampa has scored 10 more goals in 2 fewer games - and a lot of them came against the Blackhawks. Gross.
Enough of the sad numbers. Here are your players to watch.
The Goaltender
Jeremy Colliton didn’t give any insight into the lineup when he spoke to the media this morning. Whoever the goaltender is has to come up with a huge games. The Blackhawks have been hemorrhaging goals lately, and it’s not a good look. Both Kevin Lankinen and Malcolm Subban have looked human lately. Unfortunately for them, they have to look super human to get wins with the team they have in front of them.
Patrick Kane
It’s becoming apparent that in the month of March, the Blackhawks are just going to have to outscore their mistakes. The offense runs through Patrick Kane. If they want to put up serious numbers, it has to be on #88 to get it going. He got a goal on Monday. He needs to keep it going and probably step it up a notch. If anyone can do it, it’s Kane.
Adam Boqvist
Along the same lines as Kane, Adam Boqvist is a huge offensive factor from the blue line. He’s got a wonderful shot - as evidenced by some beautiful goals this year. He’s also really progressed his defensive game. He needs to be in two-way beast mode for the Hawks to have a chance.